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E. STUMP May 2, 1939.-

APPARATUS FOR GHAVITATIONALLY SEPARATING AND CLEANING COAL AND THE LIKE Filed Sept. 22, 1937 v 3 Sheets-Sheet l E. STUMP May 2, 1939.

APPARATUS FOR GBAVITATIONALLY SEPARATING AND CLEANING COAL AND THE LIKE Filed Sept. 22, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 May 2, 1939. E. sTUMP 2,156,575

APPARATUS FOR GBAVITATIONALLY SEPARATING AND CLEANING COAL AND THE LIKE Filed Sept. 22, 1937 3 Shets-Sheet 3 Izewzefor Zarf fizz are a m izier-22gb.

Patented May 2, 1939 UNITED STATES 2,156,575 1 APPARATUS FOR GRAVITATIONALLY SEP- PATENT OFFICE ARATING AND CLEANING COAL AND THE IKE Earl Stump, Chicago, Ill., assignor to Roberts and Schaefer Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Application September 22, 1937, Serial No. 165,130

Claims.

to an apparatus primarily adapted for treatment of coal by air and while I have used the terms coal and air in the specification and claims, it is understood that these terms are used as illus- 5 trative only and that any solids which can be classified or treated by gravity may be treated by my apparatus and any suitable gas may be used.

My invention is illustrated more or less diagrammatically in the accompanying drawings, wherein- Figure l is a side elevation;

Figure 2 is a longitudinal section;

Figure 3 is a section along the line 33 of Figure 1.

Like parts are indicated by like characters throughout the specification and drawings.

This application shows a modification of the structure shown in my co-pending application Serial No. 733,053, filed June 2, 1934.

I is a supporting frame. It carries a plurality of uprights 2, 3, 4 and 5'. Between the uprights 3 and 4, is a housing which contains an air box 6. This air box receives a pulsating current of air under pressure from the blower l, which discharges the air through a manually adjustable valve housing 8, a pulsating valve housing 9 and a pipe I 0. l I is a manually adjusted valve having a valve handle l2, working on a quadrant l3 adapted to be fixed in position by the thumb screw l4. I5 is a pulsating valve mounted for rotation on a valve shaft l6, driven by a pulley I! and belt I8 from any suitable source of power, preferably the same source of power as the blower. Both these valves are butterfly valves. The manual valve is set manually to control the total volume of air which may reach the air box. The pulsating valve rotates and alternately opens and closes the effective area of the air passage to control the air in a series of pulsations. The air box is closed by a marble pack which comprises a lower perforate plate 19, an upper perforate plate and a mass of marbles or marble-like objects 2| which are held togetherunder some pressure within the pack and furnish a resistance to the passage of air upwardly from the air chamber 6.

) that while I have illustrated my device as applied The perforate plate 20 forms a floor for the downwardly inclined coal chute or trough 22, having side walls 23, and also supported on the uprights 3 and 4. 24 is a feed platform supported on the uprights 2 and 3. It carries a feed box 25 closed at the bottom by a reciprocating feed plate 26 adapted to travel on rollers 21 and to be reciprocat ed by a crank 28, driven by a sprocket 29 and chain 30 from the sprocket 3| on the flutter valve shaft. Crank 28 is connected to the feed plate by a connecting rod 32, and a reciprocating stem33.

This feed box receives coal from the hopper 34 and a manually adjusted valve35 is provided to cooperate with the reciprocating member to control the rate of flow to the separating trough or chute..

The feed plate is spaced above the floor of the trough. The coal lies in the trough generally as indicated at 36 so that there is always a gradient for the coal to flow down from the feed plate to the trough. The pulsating current of air passing up through the coal bed agitates the coal. There is no mechanical agitation but this agitation or pulsation effect of the current of air is suflicient to permit the coal to flow freely under the influence of gravity down along the floor of the trough being stratified into three zones so that the heavy material or refuse lies at the bottom, the

light material or coal at the top with an intermediate middling zone between them.

31 is a distribution plate. It is immersed in the bed of coal in the trough being held substantially parallel to the floor of the trough by hangers 38 carried on the walls of the trough at a point well above its floor. This plate may take the form of a screen or grid or perforate plate as the case may be. In any event the perforations are much larger than the maximum size of coal particles to be treated so that the coal may pass freely upwardly through this plate and refuse may pass freely downwardly through the plate and the plate is preferably so positioned as to tend to define the boundary between the middling zone and the coal zone. This plate is reciprocated by means of a link 39, lever and link 4|, the link 4| being pivoted at one end to the reciprocating feed plate and being provided with a turn buckle 42. The point of attachment of link 39 to lever 40 is adjust able, as indicated at 43, so that the distance through which the distribution plate is reciprocated, or its stroke, may be increased or diminished.

44 is a discharge housing in communication with the end of the trough. Pivoted in that housing is a sloping middlings trough, floor plate 45 which may be manually adjusted in position by the operator and locked in position by means of the thumb screw it, the purpose of this being to raise or lower the horizontal edge of thisfloor plate because it deflnes the upward boundary of the refuse stream, the refuse passing down from the floor of the trough beneath this plate where it is controlled by a gate 41. 4| is the coal chute floor plate. It is presented to the stream of coal in much the same way as the plate 46 is presented to the stream of refuse. The space between II and 48 is the middlings chute and this middlings chute may be controlled by a gate 49. The coal passes over the plate 48 and is discharged without further interference through a chute l0. Middlings leave the apparatus through a chute I and refuse through a chute 52 as indicated. The pivoted coal plate 48 is supported at its upper end on the outward end or the distribution plate 31 and is held by gravity against it so that as the feed plate is reciprocated causing reciprocation oi the distribution plate, the distribution plate causes a slight rocking movement of the coal plate 48, thus opening and closing slightly the middlings chute and so avoiding clo ging in the middlings area and also avoiding the danger of large pieces of coal straddling the edge of the coal chute, and so interfering with the flow of material.

The gates 41 and 49 are controlled by levers 53, 54, and links 55 and 56. The mechanism for controlling these links and levers and controlling the gates forms no part of the present invention and is not here illustrated or described. Sufllce it to say that these gates are ordinarily slightly open but may open wider or less wide as the case may be either by manual control or by automatic control.

I claim:

1. In a coal treating apparatus, a floor along which coal is adapted to travel, a distribution plate immersed in the stream of flowing coal, means for reciprocating said plate to agitate the coal as it travels along the floor to cause gravitational separation of the coal into generally horizontal strata, a chute at the discharge edge of the floor having a horizontal cutting edge presented to the oncoming current of coal, and means for imparting a vertical vibratory movement to said cutting edge, said last means comprising a connection between the said chute and plate whereby the cutting edge and plate move in unison.

2. In a coal treating apparatus, a floor along which coal is adapted to travel, a distribution plate immersed in the stream of flowing coal,

means for reciprocating said plate to agitate the coal as it travels along the floor to cause gravitational separation of the coal into generally horizontal strata, a chute at the discharge edge of the floor having a horizontal cutting edge presented to the oncoming current of coal, means pivoting said chute on a horizontal axis at a point remote from the cutting edge, and means for imparting to the chute a vibratory movement about its pivot axis, said last means comprising a connection between the chute and said plate whereby they move in unison.

3. In a coal treating apparatus, afloor along which coal is adapted to travel, a distribution plate immersed in the stream of flowing coal, means for reciprocating said plate to agitate the coal as it travels along the floor to cause gravitational separation of the coal into generally horizontal strata, a chute at the discharge edge of said floor having a horizontal cutting edge presented to the oncoming current of coal, a discharge passage having an opening beneath said cutting edge, and means for expanding and contracting the cross-sectional area of said passage. said means comprising a connection between the distribution plate and said chute, whereby the cutting edge oi the chute is vibrated vertically in unison with the movement of the distribution plate.

4. In a coal treating apparatus, an inclined deck down which coal is adapted to travel, a stirring member suspended parallel to the deck and immersed in the stream of flowing coal, means for reciprocating said member to agitate the coal as it travels down the deck, an inclined chute supported at its upper end on said stirring member and having a horizontal cutting edge presented to the oncoming current of coal, and means for pivotally supporting said chute at its lower end, whereby movement of said stirring member imparts movement to the cutting edge of said chute.

5. In a coal treating apparatus, an inclined deck down which coal is adapted to travel, a stirring member suspended parallel to the-deck and immersed in the stream of flowing coal, means for reciprocating said member to agitate the coal as it travels down the deck, a discharge passage at the lower end of the deck, and means supported in part on said stirring member and operated thereby for increasing and decreasing the size. of said discharge passage in unison with the reciprocating movement of said member.

EARL STUMP. 

